I have been more than excited about next year's opener against Alabama for a number of reasons. This year's young talent will have a year of development in the bank. We'll finally get to see if Max has "the goods"...and I believe he will be a solid replacement for Cody. And, our stable of young running backs will be a year older and a year stronger.
Then...last night's game brought a little perspective to my "excitement".
As good as our offense will be next year...a team that is physical, like Stanford...and has the ability to pound the ball...will give us fits while keeping our Defense on the field and or Offense off the field.
Stanford is called a "power" team. Their main back is Christian McCaffery. McCaffrey is 6' 1" and 201 pounds. Stanford's OLine is big.
But let's get real serious. Can you for a minute imagine that Stanford's OLine is as big as what Alabama brings to the party each and every year? Bama always has a Derrick Henry on the field or in the wings. Don't confuse McCaffrey with Derrick Henry. Mr. Henry is 6' 3" - 242 pounds. And faster than McCaffrey. And...Bama will have another horse just like Henry...they always do, that's how they recruit.
Bama was stopped last night for a variety of reasons. But not because Henry was stopped...5.5 per carry. What hurt Bama as much as anything was the size, speed and rush (on the QB) of Ole Miss' DL.
Now ask yourself 2 questions:
1. Based on who we will lose off the DL after this year...who do we have waiting in the wings that represents a step up...in terms of stopping "power" running games?
2. What level of confidence do you have that the coach(s) responsible for developing next year's DL have the philosophy and ability to develop our talent to the point that we don't get hit in the mouth and fall short from a physical perspective?
For the last 3 years...UCLA has been the more physical and aggressive team on defense. Their defense plays like USC "used to play". Last night, Stanford punched our DL in the mouth...again.
As someone who has followed USC since the mid '60's...I'm tired of seeing our team being a punching bag on defense. Outside of a possible coaching change, or a dramatic change in philosophy, I don't know what the answer is...
I'll continue to support and defend our team to outsiders, but games like last night make me sick.
Then...last night's game brought a little perspective to my "excitement".
As good as our offense will be next year...a team that is physical, like Stanford...and has the ability to pound the ball...will give us fits while keeping our Defense on the field and or Offense off the field.
Stanford is called a "power" team. Their main back is Christian McCaffery. McCaffrey is 6' 1" and 201 pounds. Stanford's OLine is big.
But let's get real serious. Can you for a minute imagine that Stanford's OLine is as big as what Alabama brings to the party each and every year? Bama always has a Derrick Henry on the field or in the wings. Don't confuse McCaffrey with Derrick Henry. Mr. Henry is 6' 3" - 242 pounds. And faster than McCaffrey. And...Bama will have another horse just like Henry...they always do, that's how they recruit.
Bama was stopped last night for a variety of reasons. But not because Henry was stopped...5.5 per carry. What hurt Bama as much as anything was the size, speed and rush (on the QB) of Ole Miss' DL.
Now ask yourself 2 questions:
1. Based on who we will lose off the DL after this year...who do we have waiting in the wings that represents a step up...in terms of stopping "power" running games?
2. What level of confidence do you have that the coach(s) responsible for developing next year's DL have the philosophy and ability to develop our talent to the point that we don't get hit in the mouth and fall short from a physical perspective?
For the last 3 years...UCLA has been the more physical and aggressive team on defense. Their defense plays like USC "used to play". Last night, Stanford punched our DL in the mouth...again.
As someone who has followed USC since the mid '60's...I'm tired of seeing our team being a punching bag on defense. Outside of a possible coaching change, or a dramatic change in philosophy, I don't know what the answer is...
I'll continue to support and defend our team to outsiders, but games like last night make me sick.
